Shares of Banking, Refinery, PSU, Realty, Captial Goods, FMCG, Power, Auto and Metal declined on heavy selling.
The rupee hitting a record low of 68.75 against the dollar in the early trade dampened sentiment.
The Sensex resumed lower at 17,851.44 and dropped further to a low of 17,448.71 before quoting at 17,494.80 at 1040 hrs, showing a loss of 473.28 points or 2.63 per cent from its last close.
Major losers were ONGC (8.08 pc), HDFC (6.36 pc), M&M (5.48 pc), HDFC Bank (4.69 pc), BHEL (4.46 pc), Icici Bank (4.46 pc) and Bharti Airtel (4.32 pc).
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Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1373.99 crore yesterday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Asian stocks dropped for a second day today on concerns the US will take military action against Syria. Key benchmark indices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, South Korea and Japan fell by 0.24 per cent to 2.32 per cent while Taiwan's stock market rose 0.06 per cent.